Yesterday, the 3rd June was Day 363 of The Most Runningist Year Ever and I ran what will the final organised race of the challenge – The Corstorphine AAC 5 Mile Road Race.
Still aching a bit from the Edinburgh Half Marathon, I took the short drive with Kata out to the start of the race which was near Edinburgh Airport. When we arrived there were a lot more HBT runners than I was expecting and in fact the race in general was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. This is perhaps not that surprising as it was a beautiful, sunny, June evening, you could register on the day, and the location was handy for all of Edinburgh. One thing that I did notice before the race actually was the number of race vests from outside of the usual Edinburgh and East coast suspects. There were runners there from Cambuslang Harriers, Garscube Harriers, Hamilton Harriers, Kirkintilloch Olympians (‘Harriers’ not good enough for them?!), and even from my home town - Cumbernauld AAC!
And we're off...
Sure, it was a sunny, June evening, but it was still Edinburgh so to the sound of a starter pistol we got underway straight into a strong headwind. Running along the road alongside the airport runway, it was a relief to then take a right hand turn into a quieter road and out of the wind. I had completed the first kilometre in 3:50 which was too fast but I had been keeping pace with runners from HBT and other clubs that I recognised from previous races as about my pace. The consensus afterwards was that the start was generally too fast. The course was the definition of ‘undulating’. It was up and down the whole way around, with one particularly brutal hill balanced out by a nice downhill just before turning back on to the home straight. Ah….the home straight….
Turning back on to the road that we started on, I could see the industrial estate that marked the finish. I kicked on and started racing the runners around about me to protect or even gain position. Unfortunately I kicked on far too early and far too fast. Giddy with the excitement of running downhill and then onto the home straight, I pushed to fast too early and about 400m from the end I was exhausted and had no speed left in me at all. I could feel the pasta that I had had for dinner in my stomach and I dearly hoped that it was going to stay there! It did.
Handles well in corners
Results are in and I finished 83rd out of 164 in 34:06. Actually, me and the guy in 82nd finished in exactly the same time and contrary to the official results I recall that I crossed the finish line slightly ahead of him. Denied of a top half finish. Stewards enquiry!
A really nice race and I would definitely recommend it. Very well organised by CAAC and brilliantly marshalled at every corner. It was a nice route on some back roads that I otherwise would never have been on and I got a very interesting and close look at this tower which I’ve often wondered about from afar when driving to the airport.
But what IS it?
It was a challenging race ran by quite a fast field. I underestimated it a little bit because the name of the race had a ‘5’ in it. I mean I knew it was 5 miles, but my subconscious was thinking kilometres because that’s what I’m used to when a race is a ‘5’ something.
The bananas and baked goods at the end were very welcome. Good cheering on from Kata (taking photos) and Ian (marshalling) who were standing at the top of the final hill, although I can’t help but notice that Ian’s promise to shoot all runners not wearing brown was not carried out. Probably for the best – it’ not really in the spirit of being a race marshal.
Everyone in this picture looks far too happy. I've dropped my banana.
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